Evidence which could affect the fate of 140 Far North properties, some in public ownership but many of them private, with a total value of $26 million, is being presented to the Waitangi Tribunal's Ngati Kahu remedies hearing at Kareponia, outside Awanui, this week.
Te Runanga-a-Iwi o Ngati Kahu was dissatisfied with Crown efforts to settle the iwi's Treaty grievances along with those of the other Muriwhenua tribes, and asked the tribunal to conduct a hearing into remedies for its claims. Those claims cover land, including private property, which is subject to a State-Owned Enterprises Act memorial which could enable the tribunal to recommend transferring them to Maori as a remedy for historical claims.
Office of Treaty Settlements director Peter Galvin has said that, in certain circumstances, those recommendations became binding, meaning that the Crown must buy (or 'resume') the land so it can be transferred, an exception to the general rule that the tribunal cannot make binding recommendations.
The largest of the resumable properties in the Ngati Kahu remedies claim area is the 3700-hectare Rangiputa Station, valued at $3.6 million. Other resumable properties include a 1.2-hectare Baptist Union site valued at up to $1.5 million and a Mangonui Volunteer Fire Brigade site valued at $150,000.
Six Housing Corporation properties with a total value of up to $1.16 million are on the list, along with 13 Far North District Council sites with valuations ranging from $5 to $10,000.
